Quick look at Food Ingredients South America

I attended the Food Ingredients South America (FISA) conference, which took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, earlier this month. Below are some thoughts on the event.

Overall show: This is the 18th time this show has taken place. Previously it had been every other year, but the event organizers moved to an annual event in the last few years. It also includes CPhI for the pharma industry, and this is about 25% of entire show.

The show hours are quite unusual, from 1pm-8pm each day, to accommodate Sao Paulo traffic. Most exhibitors were “food” focused with very little emphasis on nutraceutical ingredients. Among the nutritional ingredients that exhibitors did show, omega-3s were more popular than any other ingredient.

 

 

 

 

 

Brazilian consumer market overview: I attended a presentation by market research company Mintel, who shared some data on the Brazilian consumer market. Below are some tidbits:

•  69% of consumers prefer convenience products as they have very busy lifestyles

• The top two disease concerns are type 2 diabetes  & hypertension
• Brazil consumers say they eat healthy 50% of the time
• 55% do their own research on products they consume but 65% find messaging confusing
• 25% of adults think that foods in general have too many additives and preservatives and food safety is very important
• Clean labels/ lesser evil foods are gaining market traction

 

 

It was an interesting show to attend, but based on the heavy food focus, GOED will continue to evaluate whether this would be the best venue for a GOED pavilion.